A Note to Avery’s Bottom Lip

02/15/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Today marks Avery’s 3rd month in this world and our 3rd month as parents. I still have a long road ahead as Going Dad, but I’m more excited than ever before!

Lately, Avery has developed a keen use of her bottom lip which is usually a tell-tale sign that an outburst of tears is fast approaching. Sometimes we can act fast and just do something random which will prevent the floodgates from opening, but we’re usually not that lucky.

One thing’s for sure, that lip is trouble, so I’d like to write a little note…..

Dear Avery’s Bottom Lip,

I don’t know who you think you are, but you are making our irresistibly cute baby girl even MORE irresistibly cute. This might sound like a good thing we should thank you for, but on the contrary, I sense the problems you will cause in the future.

As Avery grows older and gets into trouble, I fear you will be there to bail her out.

Messy room? No problem, just flip the lip over and daddy will surely forgive her and pick up the mess himself. Talking back to teacher at school? Easy fix, roll out the lip and it’s obviously a mistake because she didn’t know calling someone stupid was a bad thing and hurtful.

Then in the later years as boys enter the picture and she gets caught sneaking out, you’ll come to the rescue convincing Kelley and me that she was simply trying to get some fresh air by opening her window and no one else was there.

You can see where I’m going, you’re going to cause us trouble for quite some time, aren’t you? How about we have a truce?

Since it’s just so cute to see Avery with you flipped down so much a bird could sit on you, you are welcome to stay. But, if, and only if, you stay up for the major offenses and don’t make it any harder for us to discipline when needed.

Deal? I’m counting on you to work with us here, so please, do as I ask.

Sincerely,

Avery’s Dad

Hopefully this note will help and Avery’s bottom lip won’t “turn” against us. But, I know some lips can be really cold and crack, so I’ll be on constant alert.

Avery, we love you and hope you never have to use that evil, but so freakin’ cute bottom lip of yours to get out of trouble! Hope you’ve had a great 3 months so far and enjoy the many years to come with us!

Do your kids have a certain quality that you fear will get them out of trouble or it already does?

Life

Happy 1st Valentine’s Day, Avery, and Kelley Too!

02/14/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

red-heart — **Yep, I went with the corny heart. #noshame**

I know I complain about Avery not playing and being impatient, but I can’t believe she’ll be three months tomorrow, February 15th. And today is her first Valentine’s.

Avery with Mommy at less than 2 weeks old.

Yeah, not really a big deal, but as I’m sure all parents know, a first anything is a landmark we MUST get excited about.

I’m running short on time today, but I wanted to post my V-day wishes to Avery and hope we can have a great one. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting her grandparents from her mom’s side, and it’s supposed to be beautiful weather. Hoping for some nice sunshine and a great visit. I am always a little hesitant to throw her off of her routine since that makes nap time and therefore nighttime harder. Sometimes it’s not a big deal though, we’ll see.

Speaking of sleep, instead of the normal swaddle with snaps that we have been using, we tried the Woombie we bought a while back. I also used the advice from this video on YouTube for the inside layer to keep her arms down. This is a perfect combo! No more snaps coming undone either since the Woombie zips up!

Keeping those crazy arms down is a chore, and so far so good. Avery even slept in her crib from 9pm to 5am, that’s the longest yet! High five us! But I won’t get too excited until it’s consistent.

Crazy arms in action. So freakin' cute though! — Crazy arms in action. So freakin’ cute though!

Well, that’s it for today, I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day and great weekend ahead. I’m excited we’ll have Kelley at home for an extra day, we sure do miss mommy around here!

Do you get overexcited about counting 1st’s for your baby? What’s the most random first you can remember?

Parenting

Tummy Time and When Can We Play?!

02/13/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

We are just about 3 months into being parents and I’m already restless wanting to play with Avery. Am I being to impatient? Anyone else have these feelings?

I try and play peek-a-boo, nothing. I open a book to read and she looks everywhere but right in front of her at the book and then usually gets fussy; fail. I jump from around a corner and say boo; bad idea, she just starts to cry.

For some dumb reason, I thought it might be cool to pop those plastic air-filled packaging things for a “fun” and surprising pow sound. Nope. She made her bottom lip turn over just like you’d see a sad cartoon puppy do and started crying. It didn’t last long, but I felt bad. Kelley and I have started calling her sad face the “Hector Face” because it reminds us of the old guy named Hector on “Breaking Bad.”

Okay, her lip goes down more than this and she's a lot cuter, but the name is stuck. — **Okay, her lip goes down more than this and she’s a lot cuter, but the name is stuck**.

I know I must have patience, and everyone keeps reminding me of this, but I keep trying every day anyway. Since I am stay-at-home dadding, there’s only so much to do. If she’s sleeping, I can’t be too loud, I don’t even flush the toilet! I spend most time in the kitchen making lunch/dinner for Kelley and myself, as well as get in a workout in our cold garage. If Avery naps well, that is.

Then it’s just feed, burp, change diaper, walk/talk/move around, swaddle, try to feed again, try to get her to nap, fail at my attempt, offer the bottle, change diaper again, do chores with her in the Baby Bjorn, attempt to play, fail at playing, and so on and so forth. That’s not a run on sentence, is it?

I’ve been trying to get Avery to move or roll over with Tummy Time sessions, but she just cries the whole time and sucks on her hand. She did, however, get really close to rolling herself over, if that damn right arm would be in the way! Kelley and I got all excited about this and I can only imagine how thrilled we’ll be when she actually does something. #beingnewparentsiswonderful

Why the pound sign talk? No clue, I’m not very Twitter savvy, but this is me trying. Yeah, I know they call it a hash tag, but I refuse to say that because it’s a freakin pound sign! Do you ever hear the automated voice on the phone say “Enter your password and press hash tag.”…..NO!

Anyway, I’ll let Avery cry for a while as she lays on her tummy just hoping she’ll do something magnificent. Nothing yet, but the day will come, I know it! Then that will be the start of maybe more playing.

We want to get her a bouncer really soon since she is pretty good about holding her head up on her own now. Anyone have any good recommendations? Can’t decide if we should go brand new or find a good used one. Or is that frowned upon? Let me know, I’m up for suggestions!

Okay, Avery is getting squirmy, so that means the end of this post. Off to go see if I will get a happy face or Hector Face….

As a parent, did you ever get anxious to start playing?

How long do you let your baby cry (if he or she did) during Tummy Time?